The Last of the Victors
by LawrenceDaddarioWatsonStewart
Summary: I quickly came up with this to show how the seven survivors of the Hunger Games and Second Rebellion went on with their lives. Just a nice little ditty. Please review and ENJOY!
1. Chapter 1: Enobaria Golding

**Chapter 1: Enobaria Golding**

 **Victor of: 62nd Hunger Games**

 **Hometown: District 2**

Enobaria sank her shovel into the dirt. The earth came up with some resistance, but she tossed it over her shoulder like it was paper anyway. She had a complicated association with the concept of resistance - both despising it and then welcoming it at certain points in her life.

She was the last living Career Victor in all of Panem. This gave her a special status, and people would always notice her by her teeth that ended in golden fangs. She had had them cosmetically altered when she won her first Games, after ripping out her final opponent's throat out with her incisors. For the next thirteen years, she had basked in the glory of her district and the Capitol, as any tribute who loved the Hunger Games should.

But then, she was conscripted to participate in a fight to the death all over again.

When former Victors were reaped for the 75th Hunger Games, or 3rd Quarter Quell, Enobaria's faith in the Capitol was shaken. She felt betrayed. Not Brutus, though, her district partner that year. He had volunteered enthusiastically, expressing how he couldn't wait to get back into the arena. This made Enobaria see the man who had been her mentor in a whole new light.

She couldn't kill him. They were friends. Perhaps it had been a favor, then, to watch from the shadows as Brutus met his end at the hands of Old Abernathy's boy - the last tribute to die in any Hunger Games, ever, it would turn out.

Surviving the arena a second time had been Enobaria's plan all along. She just had not expected to do so with five others. Captured by the Capitol, she was treated like a guest rather than a prisoner. Even so, that did not prevent her from bearing witness to what Snow and his goons did to Axe Girl and Lover Boy. Watching fellow Victors tortured like that - the boy was driven nearly insane - made her not just question the Capitol. She renounced them.

To declare this disownment openly would have meant her death, however, so Enobaria bided her time, waiting for an opportunity. It came when the rebels extracted Axe Girl, Lover Boy and Odair's Mistress from the Training Center. Enobaria slipped away in the confusion, stowing away on a hovercraft that spirited her back to District 2, which was now in full revolt.

Only when amongst neighbors and friends did she throw her lot in with the rebels.

The defection was made all the easier thanks to rebel commander and fellow Victor, Lyme. Pity she did not make it. Enobaria kept her head down, blending in within the forces. Once Snow was captured and Coin took over and called for a Council of all surviving Victors did she reveal herself. Enobaria was first and foremost a survivor, always had been. If people thought it was self-serving because of where she came from or because she was a Career, then tough shit.

Returning to District 2 after the war, Enobaria set to work rebuilding the Nut that she and the other rebels had destroyed. It was the project she oversaw and was hard at work on now, as she now swung a pick into the bedrock.

"All right, boys! Let's move on out that cart of shale!" she called over the hum of machinery and clinking and clanking.

Exalted Victor down to humble miner... maybe the latter was a life she could be proud of.


	2. Chapter 2: Beetee Latier

**Chapter 2: Beetee Latier**

 **Victor of: 36th Hunger Games**

 **Hometown: District 3**

Beetee poked at a jumble of wires with an electrical prong. A burst of blue sparkles emanated from where the pieces of metal joined. Good. The conduction was healthy and in just the place where he had expected.

All his life, the dark-skinned man had dreamed of becoming a scientist. That really was not anything new. Almost everybody in his beloved District 3 went into the sciences in some way. His father had been an electrical engineer, for example, and a very successful one at that. Beetee learned all his skills from him.

And a good thing, too, for reaching the pinnacle of his ambitions required him to take an alternate route.

Beetee did not expect to be Reaped for his first Games. But as soon as he was, he began formulating a plan. Other tributes had brute physicality, or skilled proficiency in a particular weapon, on their side. To beat them, Beetee would have only one weapon - his mind. Working from that angle, he won the lottery.

His luck started in the arena - built out of the ruins of a small college campus that once stood in the former North America. Following the Bloodbath, Beetee sequestered himself in the remains of the science building, using the tools in there to create an elaborate trap. He hid for days, working in silence and solitude, which was only interrupted by the sound of cannons around him. By the time the Final 8 was reached and even after the first death following that milestone, no other tributes came for him.

By that point, it was all six Careers vs. Beetee. Here again is where the young scientist from District 3 had lucked out. The pack had become unusually close with each other the longer the Games went on; it was almost as if they didn't want to kill each other. They even slept close together, which helped Beetee's purposes nicely.

By the time the pack started to stir one morning, it was too late. Beetee flipped a switch and within minutes, all six Careers lay dead. It took minutes more for the cameras and Gamemakers to register what had happened; the ending and victory were both so shocking.

For nearly four decades after that, Beetee laid low when Games season rolled around, acting as a Victor and mentoring when he needed to. But his real purpose and love came from inventing and studying and crafting - many of his works went to improving the Capitol. It was not as though he had a choice in that matter, though.

When the 75th Games rolled around, Beetee knew he could not possibly win a second time. But he might be able to build up one last legacy. Plutarch Heavensbee commissioned him to retrieve and tinker with a special wire Beetee had invented. Allying strategically with stronger tributes, Beetee kept himself alive until the very end, rigging the lightning tree to blow a hole in the arena's forcefield. He needed an assist from the Girl on Fire, but the job got done. And he unintentionally survived in the process.

Beetee was spirited away to District 13, and now devoted his expertise to a more worthy organization. Using the weapons he created, the rebels took down the Capitol, after which Beetee retreated to District 3 to continue his passion in peace. He would devote many more decades to science before his life was through.


	3. Chapter 3: Annie Cresta Odair

**Chapter 3: Annie Cresta Odair**

 **Victor of: 70th Hunger Games**

 **Hometown: District 4**

Annie watched with a loving smile as her son ran his hands through the ocean tides, off the edge of the small rowboat she piloted. Little Finn looked so much like his father, and inheriting his love for water only made her heart all the more happy.

Playing with her son, cuddling with him, sharing moments like this with him made her appreciate all she had to go through to reach this point.

When she was reaped for her first arena, she thought she was doomed. Never mind she was from a Career district that always stood a good chance to win anyway. She was gentle, sweet - a killer's instinct, she did not possess. And the Gamemakers quickly learned this, too - though Annie could not remember her exact training score, she knew it had been abysmally low.

Luckily, her district partner was nice and loyal; he helped her through the Bloodbath. He protected her within the Career pack they were both a part of. Otherwise, the others would have turned her into an easy kill.

When the Final Eight was reached, the Careers began to turn on one another. Surprisingly, her district partner diverted their attention; he was tortured and killed first, right in front of Annie. Traumatized, she ran and hid, for she knew she would be next.

One night, a giant rumbling woke her. And then waves engulfed her. She barely managed to stay above water even with her great swimming skills. Hour after hour, she treaded water, as cannons went off one by one. That was the only reason she became Victor.

Moving on was a struggle. More than a few times, she contemplated suicide. But her life was always saved - figuratively and literally - by her mentor.

She had loved Finnick Odair ever since his legendary Hunger Games win five years before her. She just never thought he would notice her. When he first talked to her during her Victory Tour, she nearly fainted. He would take her for walks on the beach back in Four. He slept in her house in the Victors Village most nights, on the couch. Both these kindnesses served as a sort of therapy. And she fell more deeply in love with her handsome mentor.

It took all her courage to tell him how she felt. Words failed her. So, instead, she dragged him away from a holiday party one night and kissed him until he was gasping for breath, until his hands were wandering all over her body. Their affair was quick and passionate.

Those few years were bliss. She and Finnick always made sure that when they mentored, they mentored together. And when Finnick returned from his special 'visits' to the Capitol throughout the rest of the year, he would make love to her until she forgot her own name.

Then, it all came crashing down.

She openly screamed and wept when her name was called for the Third Quarter Quell. But only for a moment, for then she saw Mags raise her hand desperately to volunteer in her place; the old lady had all but lost her ability to speak long ago. If only one of their fellow Victors could have volunteered in Finnick's place.

Hearing his poem of love for her gave her some semblance of peace. Seeing him handsome and healthy and _alive_ in the arena made her heart swell with joy. When the forcefield was destroyed and Finnick escaped with only five other tributes left, she knew the Capitol would come for her. And when they did come for her, she only fought back to keep up appearances. As long as Finnick was free, she no longer cared what happened to her. His face alone got her through her torture until she was liberated.

And then? They were back together again. That first night in 13, Finnick made love to her until she could barely move. A whirlwind wedding - all she had ever dreamed of - soon followed. Within days of the marriage, Annie discovered she was pregnant. Just one more war to win, and they could live in peace as a family.

But the Capitol was not done with her yet. They took her husband from her, just before the Capitol was overrun and Snow arrested. She passed through the Victors' Council in a daze.

Months later, she gave birth back in District 4 to the spitting image of her lover and spouse. Appropriately, she named him Finnick. Finn, for short, to avoid confusion with his famous dad.

He saved her life every day, her little boy. And she had friends who cared for her in Four and beyond. Friends who shared her pain and became as good as family. In the years to come, she would attend the Mellarks' wedding, and was overjoyed when the couple wrote her to announce they were expecting. Annie exchanged many letters and pictures back and forth with them. Often, these missives included pictures from Finn addressed to his ' _Auntie_ ' and ' _Uncle_ '. Oh, and a bottle of liquor for ' _Pop-Pop_ ' (you can imagine who that is).

Out of the darkness and into the light. Both the world's and that of her own mind. That is what Annie had achieved.


	4. Chapter 4: Johanna Mason

**Chapter 4: Johanna Mason**

 **Victor of: 71st Hunger Games**

 **Hometown: District 7**

"Arrrrrhhhhhhhh!"

The axe flew through the air and impaled itself in a tree trunk as Johanna Mason growled from the effort. Yanking the blade free, she inspected the damage and began to saw through the bark from the incision she had made.

Harvest season was always exhausting here in Seven, not to mention brutally hot. But Johanna didn't mind. She had been throwing axes since she could toddle. It was a skill that would serve her well, as she would come to learn.

Her home district had gleaned a respectable number of Victors over the course of the Hunger Games. But, interestingly, they had all been men. Johanna hated many things, but one thing she could not stand was sexism, real or perceived. So, when she was reaped at age 17, Johanna resolved to make history and break the glass ceiling for her District.

It would not be easy, though. Even the Careers knew to be wary of the tough tributes from Seven. They would be expecting the same from her. But how would they react if this perception was called into question, even turned on its head?

Johanna cried. And cried. And cried. She cried in the Tribute Parade. She wept throughout Training. She sobbed through her interview with Caesar, sniffling out a few pathetic answers. When the Bloodbath finally came, she ran away like a petrified little girl and hid.

She waited through cannon after cannon after cannon, until she judged there to be five tributes left. When her district partner set up camp not far from her hideout, she stole his axes and beheaded him while he slept. The same shock in his eyes was beheld in all the rest of her slain competition, as she hunted and killed them one by one.

Her unexpected ferocity endeared her to the Capitol - especially for men who wanted to see how vicious she could be in bed. But she refused when Snow ordered this of her. Her family was murdered for her insolence.

For the next three years, she flippantly went through the motions as a mentor in every other respect. But when the 75th Games rolled around, and - being the only female Victor from Seven - she was drafted again...

Johanna became enraged. _Boiling_ enraged. Since everyone knew her personality now, she went into hell a second time with exactly zero fucks left to give. When Plutarch gave her the chance to throw one middle finger the Capitol's way, she jumped at the chance. She had always been a rebel at heart.

Which made getting captured by fucking Snow even more annoying.

She had not been afraid of water in the Quarter Quell arena. Boy, did _that_ reverse itself quickly. She was just about done with all the shit when the rebels swooped in several weeks too late for her on a rescue mission. She couldn't fight, thanks to her new phobia. But she cheered when the Mockingjay did what she had always wanted to do to that Santa Claus-bearded sicko.

After the Victors' Council and new elections, Johanna just wanted to be left alone. She exiled herself to District 7, living in Victors' Village but disappearing into the hordes of her people and refugees other than that. Being a lumberjack was not the worst retirement.

Plus, she had gotten something new in the bargain. A friend.

When Girl on Fire's "cousin" (which Johanna knew had been _total_ bullshit - oh well, her loss!) was transferred from Two to District 7, the former Victor had not liked him at first. Personality-wise, at least; she loved his body. But Captain Gale Hawthorne could give barbs as good as he got from her, and soon, Johanna found herself falling for the newly minted Peacekeeper.

Here he came now, brining with him a glass of water. Smirking, Johanna had barely accepted the glass when he offered her something else, out of the blue. Taking her by the waist, Gale pulled Johanna to him and kissed her right on the lips.

Johnna's eyes bulged and she let out a startled squeak into his mouth. But soon, she was moaning like a goddamn Capitol whore, closing her eyes and kissing him back. With tongue.

Maybe getting hitched was _also_ not the worst thing to happen in retirement.


	5. Chapter 5: Haymitch Abernathy

**Chapter 5: Haymitch Abernathy**

 **Victor of: 50th Hunger Games**

 **Hometown: District 12**

Haymitch uncorked another bottle of whiskey and indulged himself in a long swig. Some of the liquid dribbled onto his chin, and his hand brushed against scruff as he wiped the excess away. A chorus of squawking made him look towards his back garden.

"Oh for the love of Christ... SHUT UP! SHUT UP AND EAT! SETTLE DOWN!" He grumbled as stalked back onto his rear porch. "Stupid birds..."

He settled himself in a rocking chair. It had been a Christmas gift from his protégés: the best tributes he had ever had from years mentoring as a former Victor in the Hunger Games. Though Haymitch would never sit in it until that fateful day, when Sweetheart came over from next door with a little bundle in her arms. The old drunk had gotten no sleep that previous night; he had been over at the Mellarks for almost all of it until The Boy ordered him to bed and promised to wake him if any progress occurred on the delivery. Ha! That didn't happen, but probably only out of thoughtfulness.

Anyway, Haymitch only sat in that rocking chair when he got to hold his newborn, adopted granddaughter in his arms. The moment was rather fitting, if for no other reason than he was getting old, and rocking chairs were meant for old people anyway. Clementine Primrose Rue Mellark - what a mouthful! But she was a beauty, just like her parents.

But having a job as Grandpa didn't pay the bills. And if there was one thing Haymitch still needed fucking cash for, it was his booze. So, he took up raising geese for a small profit. Even when he was drunk, the animals still managed to stay alive and even decently fed for market. Sweetheart would often haul them into town and the Hob to trade along with her game. She always paid him back what he was due. And the geese usually went for a pretty penny, at that - sometimes even more than for her game.

When not with his family or with his birds, Haymitch would reflect on his Games. The _only_ one, thank God - though he was the only tribute in history to be reaped for two Quarter Quells. In the Second Quarter Quell, he had gone in against double the odds. Killed a few Careers, watched an ally die, then tricked his last opponent when he invented his own weapon to turn _her_ weapon against her. Hardy-har... good times... good times...

That little teenage prank of a stunt had gotten everyone he loved killed. As well as every tribute he mentored for the next 23 years.

Then, the Seam huntress and Merchant baker had been Reaped, turning Haymitch's world upside-down.

He nearly lost both of them a time or two throughout that arena. When both killed Cato to get into the Top Two and guarantee his District victory for the first time since his own, Haymitch was in agony to choose which one to save. Fortunately, his apprentices made sure he did not have to, after pulling a brilliant fake-out that ultimately led to revolution.

And then, Haymitch nearly lost them both _again_ the following year, in an arena full of his old Victor friends. Again, his pupils survived, but were kept apart for a while.

Haymitch helped the rebellion in District 13, working every channel he knew to get Lover Boy back. Sweetheart was in hysterics the entire time. Once it was all over, master and students retreated to District 12 to become hermits the rest of their lives.

Welp, at least they could be hermits together.

The old man became a drunk again, the young man (after much recovery) a baker again, the young woman a huntress again... then a bride... and then a mother.

Haymitch lost damn near everything in his youth. It was poetic, then, that he got just about all of it back in time for the sunset years of his life. A job. And a family. And... happiness. He had beaten the Games at last.


	6. Chapter 6: Katniss Everdeen Mellark

**Chapter 6: Katniss Everdeen Mellark**

 **Victor of: 74th Hunger Games**

 **Hometown: District 12**

Katniss rose with the dawn. Before dawn, actually - sometimes it was still dark; sometimes the sky was just beginning to gray. Showering quietly and dressing, she quickly drew her still-sleeping infant son to her breast; it was remarkable that he could latch on and suckle even when he was not awake. Last of all, she hovered over her slumbering husband lovingly. She dared to kiss his cheek, then his lips.

"I love you," she whispered tenderly. The love of her life and the father of her children stirred, but did not wake.

She liked the woods in the early morning. Not a sound could be heard beyond her own footfalls. After felling a pretty big deer, as well as snaring a rabbit and a few squirrels, she cleaned the carcasses. For just a moment, a human body flashed in place of the animal body and she recalled words Gale had once spoken to her long ago:

 _Tributes, animals... how different can it be, really?_

By now, the sun was just poking over the horizon. He would be up by now, prepping bread for that day's sales down in the bakery. Re-opening his family's old business had been her husband's life-long dream; Katniss had supported him every step of the way. Recovering from his torture in the Capitol had to happen first, but after that, the steps seemed to take care of themselves. The whole of District 12 had raised money to resurrect Mellark's Bakery, and all pitched in to help build. Katniss had learned how to knead dough, work an oven. As a girl, she would never - in her wildest dreams - have imagined herself as a Baker's wife. Hell, _anyone's_ wife. But, on the whole, hers was not a bad life, considering all she had endured to get there.

Katniss entered the Hob and approached Greasy Sae's stall immediately. She paid a good price for the squirrels and deer.

"Any geese from Abernathy?"

"Sorry, Sae, I'll bring them by later. Didn't want to risk waking anyone up this morning."

The old woman smiled. "Get home to the little ones, dearie."

But Katniss still had one more stop to make. She paused in the alley behind Mellark Bakery on the way home. As soon as her husband had answered the door and realized it was her, Katniss yanked him into her arms and kissed him soundly. Her tongue quickly invaded his mouth and she moaned sensuously, shivering as his hands ghosted over her bum, her breasts and the space between her legs.

"Well, good morning to you, too," her handsome Baker chuckled when they broke apart. "What was that for?"

Katniss smiled. "Because I love you. _So much_. And also to tell you that I've finished trading and am going back to check on the kids. And Haymitch."

"Of course," he laughed. "Thanks for the pick-me-up. I love you!"

Katniss smiled. "I love you too, my Dandelion in the Spring."

And she raced up the path for the Victors' Village and home. Poor Seam girl, to Victor, to Revolution leader, to wife and mother - what an arc!


	7. Chapter 7: Peeta Mellark

**Chapter 7: Peeta Mellark**

 **Victor of: 74th Hunger Games**

 **Hometown: District 12**

When Peeta woke up at the sound of the rooster's crow, he felt no warm embrace, no arms curled about him. The other side of the bed was cold. His wife was already gone, up for the day. _Hunting, no doubt_ , he thought.

After showering and dressing, he checked on their babies, his heart swelling at the sight of them both still fast asleep, little dribbles of breast milk clinging to their lips. _Fed and still snoozing... I told her she'd make a great mother._

And he had told her. Multiple times. For months and months and months. It had taken his wife fifteen years to agree to bear his children. She had always feared motherhood due to the possibility of the Reapings and the Games - even after such fears were abolished. She had even balked at the idea of getting married, but only because she felt that "we're practically married anyway. You're my husband; I'm your wife. Why bother with the formalities?" Even this, though, Peeta managed to glean from her. Though it was still simple. A white dress, a suit, a toasting sealed with a kiss and that was that. They were married in their living room. The only guests were their fellow Hunger Games Victors. Haymitch turned the whole thing into a one-man show, performing every role other than that of the bride and groom.

After locking up the house and peeking into the one next door to make sure his father figure was still out cold, Peeta strolled into town. He opened up the bakery, and set to work at once. Knead the dough. Heat the ovens. Start getting the yeast to rise. Once his employees arrived, the kitchens were humming with action. Customers brought on the ring of the front door, the ding of the cash register, and the place was soon booming.

Only once throughout the whole day did Peeta have a flashback to his tortures in the Capitol, false memories from both of his Hunger Games. Just vibrations, nothing more - the instinctive chant of _Not Real, Not Real_ drove them away. Thankfully, Peeta was alone in the back storage room when it happened; he held onto a chair until the moment passed.

As he stepped into the hallway, he felt a knock at the back door. He had barely opened it before his beautiful wife was pulling him into her embrace, kissing him, caressing him, stroking him. Peeta was tempted to make love to her right here in the alley. But, no, customers were waiting. And besides, there would be plenty of chances at home, to seduce and have sex with the love of his life and the mother of his children.

"Well, good morning to you, too," Peeta chuckled when they broke apart. "What was that for?"

Katniss smiled. "Because I love you. _So much_. And also to tell you that I've finished trading and am going back to check on the kids. And Haymitch."

"Of course," he laughed. "Thanks for the pick-me-up. I love you!"

His wife beamed. "I love you too, my Dandelion in the Spring."

Peeta watched as her beautiful form raced away, up the path towards Victors' Village. He had been through Hell and back again... and ended by getting everything he had every wanted. In that sense, he truly felt like a Victor.


End file.
